{"product_id":"9781843517214","title":"Hopdance","description":"\u003cp\u003e     In a great Irish tradition of autobiographical fiction that includes James Joyce’s \u003cem\u003eA Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man \u003c\/em\u003eand Seamus Deane’s    \u003cem\u003eReading in the Dark\u003c\/em\u003e, Parker’s poignant novel depicts events     surrounding the amputation of his left leg as a nineteen-year-old     university student. Masterful vignettes present the callow protagonist’s     life before, during and after this ordeal. Belfast, drear locus of rain and     despond, contributes to the heaviness at the novel’s heart, as its     characters strive to rise above the pervasive melancholy of the city and     find some human happiness that they can share. \u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e     Tosh, Parker’s alter-ego, is drifting through life before his cancer     diagnosis, plagued by the twin ‘cankers’ of a puzzling pain in the leg and     a crippling loneliness. The amputation forces him into a more authentic relationship with life, which    \u003cem\u003e‘Starts with the wound. Ends with the kiss. For the lucky ones.’\u003c\/em\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e     This remarkable, posthumously edited work, largely written in the early     1970s, prefigures the skills Parker would demonstrate in his plays:     plainspoken and stoical in tone, the emotion seeps through a membrane of     numb reserve. The writing is impressionistically vivid, the descriptions of     pain and discomfort wholly authoritative. \u003cem\u003eHopdance \u003c\/em\u003eis a beautiful,     sincere, personal testament by a true artist, a wondrous ‘lost treasure’ of     literature now presented to its reading public. \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Lilliput Press, Limited, The","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47135792201968,"sku":"9781843517214","price":4.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9781843517214_p0.jpg?v=1769894124","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9781843517214","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}